The Winter of the World
by CLBONE13
Summary: What if Magnus had agreed to Annabeth's offer of safety, or if Sam had attacked Hearth while Annabeth was still there. In order to save her beloved cousin Annabeth Chase inadvertably starts an inter-pantheon war.
1. Chapter 1

_**THE WINTER OF THE WORLD**_

A House Divided cannot stand

 **CAST OF CHARACTERS**

 **THE SEVEN:**

 **Annabeth Chase**

 **Perseus "Percy" Jackson**

 **Leonardo "Leo" Valdez**

 **Jason Grace**

 **Hazel Lévesque**

 **Piper Maclean**

 **Fai "Frank" Zhang**

 **OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COMPANY OF THE SWORD**

 **Magnus Chase**

 **Samirah "Sam" Al-Abbas**

 **Hearthstone**

 **Blitzen**

 **Nicolas "Nico" Di Angelo**

 **Grover Underwood**

 **Tyson**

 **OTHER EINHERJI**

 **Halfborn Gunderson**

 **Thomas "TJ" Jefferson Junior**

 **Mallory Kean**

 **X**

 **OLYMPIANS**

 **Athena/Minerva**

 **Poseidon/Neptune**

 **Zeus/Jupiter**

 **Hades/Pluto**

 **Hephaestus/Vulcan**

 **Ares/Mars**

 **Hera/Juno**

 **Artemis/Diana**

 **Apollo**

 **AEGIR**

 **Odin**

 **Thor**

 **Frigg**

 **Ran**

 **Aegir**

 **VANIR**

 **Frey**

 **Freya**

 **Skirnir**

 **JOTUN**

 **Surt**

 **Loki**

 **Utgard-Loki**

 **Gerriorod**

 **Gjalp and Greip**

 **Gerd**

 **Laufey**

 **Hel**

 **Harald**

 **MONSTERS**

 **Fenrir**

 **Jormung**

 **Eikthrymir**

 **Ratatosk**

 **Saehrimir**

 **Stanely**

 **Heidrun**

 **Tanngrisnir and Tanngnostr**

 **DWARVES**

 **Junior**

 **Nabbi**

 **Fjalar and Galar**

 **CAMP HALF-BLOOD**

 **Chiron**

 **Glesson Hedge**

 **CAMP JUPITER**

 **Reyna Ramirez-Arellano**

 **Lupa**

 **Octavian**

 **MORTALS**

 **Randolph Chase**

 **Frederick Chase**

 **Sun-Lee Chase**

 **Matthew Chase**

 **Robert "Bobby" Chase**

 **Sally Jackson**

 **Paul Blofis**

 **Fareed Fadlan**


	2. I contemplate strangling Uncle Randolph

**Chapter 1: I contemplate strangling Uncle Randolph**

 _ **Annabeth**_

The last time I saw my cousin Magnus was a just month before I ran away. My father, my stepmother, her twin toddlers and I had gone to the family mansion for Thanksgiving. My grandparents had made a large fortune in the Boston Stock Market. My dad and Aunt Natalie had both been left with a sizable nest egg, but Uncle Randolph as the oldest son had gotten the house. Magnus and I played dominoes and I kicked his butt at them spectacularly, but he was a really good sport at it. I told him he was lucky, because he and his mom were really close and my dad and I were going through a major rough patch at the time. I liked him. He was really smart unlike most boys and could read really fast. I remember thinking he was lucky for that too because my dyslexia had caused a lot of teachers to doubt I was as smart as I talked. Anyway, the adults all got together after dinner and talked to each other about something and then we all abruptly left and no one would tell me why. But somehow, I knew why. Or at least I knew that it was about my mom and Magnus' dad. Magnus had been raised without a dad as I had been raised without a mom. Nobody ever talked about Magnus' dad and when we were leaving Dad abruptly announced that we weren't going to talk to the family anymore. He wouldn't say why, but the way he was looking at me implied that it was all my fault. As usual. That was the first time I daydreamed about that Magnus was one of us. A part of me really didn't want him to be because then there would always be monsters after him. But another part of me, perhaps the selfish part of me, daydreamed for years that he would appear at Camp Half-blood. I knew he couldn't be a son of Athena even though he looked like one because it was his mother not his father who was missing. Instead, I daydreamed that he was a son of Pan, Hermes, Apollo, even Zeus. But Magnus never appeared. This saddened me, but part of me knew that Magnus wasn't a demigod. Part of me had always known. He was in regular classes at school. He got straight-As. He was already through the first _Harry Potter_ book all on his own at six years old. If a child of Athena couldn't have normal reading and learning skills, then what god could. Not a Greek God that was for sure. So on that day, right after the war with Gaia, when Uncle Randolph called right out of the blue, it was like Sleeping Beauty awakening from her 100 year slumber. It was all a punch in the gut. Aunt Natalie was not only dead; she had been dead for two years. And Uncle Randolph hadn't seen Magnus since. If I could count on my hands all the many times I regretted telling Magnus he was lucky, I would lose count pretty quickly. We were all bundled into the car, my dad, Sun-Lee, the boys, me, even our two dogs, Cerberus (Kirby for short) the Pitt Bull terrier and Rommel, the Golden Retriever (it was on too short notice to take them to the kennel and none of our neighbors would take them in the middle of the night), and on the way to the airport in minutes. The whole long car ride there and the long plane ride to Boston, no one said a word.

Uncle Randolph met us at the Airport. After a two hour shouting match between him and Dad, the three of us got everything together and set out to look for Magnus. My dad and I found about three people who had seen him. The librarian at the Public Library, a worker at a local falafel place, and a local police officer (who we went to for help even though Uncle Randolph said not to call the police). Or at least they'd seen a boy who looked a lot like Magnus. They each had a different name for him. The guy at the falafel place said he thought Magnus' name was Jimmy. The librarian said it was Michael. The cop he said the boy he had picked up for petty theft told him his name was Benjamin Franklin Yates. After a homeless African American who looked like a shorter, homeless version of Charles Beckendorf swore up and down that he had never seen Magnus Chase in his life, I felt like I wanted to kill Uncle Randolph.

"How could not tell us for two years." I complained to Dad, "I could strangle him."

"He is your uncle." Dad said, "We should probably try not to kill."

"Dad," I said, "Magnus has been missing for two years. He could be frozen in a ditch somewhere for all we know."

"We don't know that." Dad said there was a brief silence. I turned around. Nothing.

"What's wrong." Dad asked me, "You don't sense….."

"No. Yes." I threw up my hands, "I don't know. It's like _something_ is there, but I don't know what."

"Well we should be careful then." Dad put his arm around me, "We'll find him. At least I hope we will."

"Why did you stop talking?" I asked, "You and Aunt Natalie."

Sun-Lee had told the boys and me at least one hundred versions of why Dad and Uncle Randolph stopped talking, but I had long since worked out that if it wasn't about my Mom, it was probably about the inheritance money. There was some kind of clause in my grandparent's will that stated that any grandchild born out of wedlock would inherit none of the money. My Dad always knew that I was smarter than most kids and he talked all the time about a reading skills tutor for me so I could go to college. My Aunt Natalie had wanted to Magnus to go an Ivy League school. It drove them both crazy that if anything happened to them, then Magnus and I would be on their own. It didn't help that as, Sun-Lee frequently implied, Randolph had always been the favorite son.

"It's complicated."

"It's about Mom isn't it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"That's what 'it's complicated' is code word for in demigod families."

"It's not just about your mother." He shrugged, "It's also about Magnus' father."

Magnus' father. Maybe Magnus' father was one of the Roman gods. Not all of them had dyslexia and ADHD. Maybe we were looking in the wrong place altogether, maybe he was just a few miles away the whole time.

No. No. If Magnus was at Camp Jupiter, he would have reached out. Percy would have met him there, wouldn't he? Besides, apart from the Fifth Cohort, Camp Jupiter just wasn't Magnus' kind of place. Almost every one of the Roman Demigods was too much of a bully. They were so conformist. So prejudicial. They looked down on people for who their godly parent was, or what their hobbies. Percy and I may have considered raising a family in New Rome, but I doubt that Magnus could have lived that way. He was too honest, too soft-spoken. They probably would have mocked him for reading. If Magnus had been at Camp Jupiter, Percy probably would have met in the frequently abused Fifth Cohort.

"Who is Magnus' father?" I looked at my father for a long time.

"It's complicated." Dad looked like he was going to cry

When we came to later that night, Uncle Randolph stood across Sun-Lee and the boys. Sun-Lee was crying hard. Randolph turned toward Dad.

"I have some bad news."

A/N: Sorry about Annabeth's summing up of Camp Jupiter if it offended anyone, but I can't help disliking it and in my defense most of it is true. Rick Riordan owns everything.


	3. I am reunited with my dead cousin

Chapter 2: I am unexpectedly reunited with my dead cousin (and apparently it might result in an inter-Pantheon war).

 _Annabeth_

On his sixteenth birthday, at 12:30 pm, my cousin Magnus jumped off the Longfellow Bridge into the Charles River. Apparently, he felt so guilty about accidentally killing his mother when setting their Alston apartment on fire in a fit of teenage angst, that he decided to kill myself. That's what Uncle Randolph claimed. Dad was quick to call BS on the story. He insisted that that wasn't how either Aunt Natalie or Magnus' death went and Randolph knew it. The next thing I remember is wandering into my bedroom. I checked, it had its own bathroom. I turned on the faucet and added some bleach to the mirror. My cousin was dead and there was only one person I wanted to talk to.

"Show me Perseus Jackson. Upper West Side. Manhattan." A part of me didn't want to tell Percy because I told him everything and that would Magnus' death, well real. It would mean that the boy who I played dominoes with when I was seven years old was gone for the world and I would have never seen him again and hadn't known all that well if at all. On the other hand, Percy would comfort me and tell me it wasn't my fault and say something funny to cheer me up and help me through it. I would mourn with my family later. Right now I needed to talk to the one person who make me feel better.

After a moment, he appeared on the screen, his longish black hair falling somewhat in his eyes as he stood in his kitchen.

"Annabeth!" he jumped up and turned around, "Do you have any idea how bad a time this is."

"Percy," an elderly sounding voice called, "Do you see my pills?"

"Working on it, Mr. B." He turned to me, "Sorry, my stepfather's parents are here. Paul's father somehow always forgets where he keeps his pills. I wouldn't have stayed here with him and Paul and lose to him at _Call of Duty,_ but the alternative was going to shop for baby-stuff with his mom and my mom. They were going to sight-see after. I just hope my mom doesn't mention that I have an uncle in the Empire State Building. On the plus side it's great to have normal problems for once, even if I have to take one more day of this I just might consider going _looking_ for a monster attack." He was kidding of course. Percy was spending extra time with his mother and stepfather lately on account of having been, well away, for nearly a year fighting Giants and he loved them and was excited to be having a new sibling soon. He seemed to notice my eyes then, "Hey, are you okay?"

"My cousin is dead."

"Oh Gods," Percy's eyes widened in both sympathy and sadness, "That's horrible. Hey wait, this was the one from Boston right."

"Yes, Seaweed Brain." That was Percy all right. Caring, annoying, stupid question asking Percy. He even forgave me almost immediately for insulting him, but that may have been because he was used to it.

"Okay then," He said, "You never told me that much about him. Please tell me all about now, or all you knew about him." I spent the next two hours telling Percy the entire horrible story (well, he made one comment after another as usual). I thought for a minute that he might try to help me see things from Randolph's point of view or play devil's advocate the way he did all the time with my dad when we were kids.

Instead he told me, "Your uncle is a first rate jackass."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Let me talk to the guy." Percy was starting to get the look in his eyes that he usually got before he faced a monster head on.

"No." My voice was shaking, "My dad has told me that we can't kill him because he's family."

"Doesn't seem like he cares too much about family." Percy pointed out, "Who waits two years to tell his own family that their sister/aunt was killed in an accident and then lets that their nephew starve to death on the streets."

"Not that I don't appreciate your loyalty, Seaweed Brain, but how do I explain to him how you're communicating with us."

Percy groaned in annoyance, "Fine, Wise Girl. But I'm still telling him on no uncertain terms to go to Tartarus at the funeral, that is if you want to come?" He added awkwardly. This was just what I needed. Percy was making me feel a little better. Not a lot better, but a little. Just by being Percy and not hesitating to offer me his shoulder cry on all why still making one immature comment for me to yell him about after another.

"No, don't." I said, "I won't tear you away from your family."

"You realize that when I tell my mom about this, she'll probably insist on going anyway." Percy said softly. He tells everything to his mother too. In fact, that just might be one of the best things about him. Percy Jackson tells both his mother and his girlfriend everything and he's never afraid to admit it.

"Just be safe, Seaweed Brain." I said, "By the way, are your step-grandfather's pills in a little white bottle?"

"Yeah why?"

"It's right beside you."

Percy turned, "Dang it. How'd I miss that? Well, I've gotta go. See you, Easter. Montauk?"

"Of course." We were planning on taking a trip with his parents and some of the other kids from camp to Sally (Percy's mom)'s cabin on Montauk Beach.

When I turned back to my bed, Kirby and Rommel were both sitting on my bed. Feeling better, I sunk down onto the bed with them and closed my eyes.

 _I dreamed about my mother. She sitting beside me, dressed in her usual pink flannel shirt, khakis and hiking boots. She looked at me with dark, contemplative eyes._

" _Stay away from him." Her voice was harder than usual, like she was reprimanding me._

" _Who?" I asked, "Mother, you seriously can't mean Magnus."_

" _He's Vanir-spawn."_

" _What?" I was incredulous, this was just like with Percy. My mom has trouble understanding why I feel a connection to certain people at times, "But he's family and anyway…..he's dead."_

" _That's another one of their failings." Athena snarled, "No respect for the dead. None. They don't let the dead stay dead."_

" _I don't understand." I asked._

" _Swear to me!" Athena bellowed, "Swear to me that you will not go near the boy if he approaches you."_

" _I don't understand." I repeated, "Why would he approach me? He's….gone."_

" _I will not be responsible for another war." She cried, "I will not break the Pact, Annabeth! Not me! No child of mine will take part in the breaking of the world."_

 _I wanted to ask what she was talking about, but I woke up too soon._

Uncle Randolph was out for most of the next day, so I didn't see again until dinner. I had to ask him about my dream.

"Is Magnus dead?"

"What?" He almost jumped out of his skin.

"You still haven't shown us his body." My heart was beating hard in my chest, I kept thinking about what I didn't know. 

"His body's at Pleasantville Funeral home, viewing hours will be going on all day." Randolph said crisply, "As I have told your father numerous times, I do not have to explain my actions to any of you." He turned back to his food, "Elisabeth mentioned that your dogs' hair has been found on the furniture again, Frederick and if I'm not mistaken your daughter spent half of my data last night."

Actually, Iris messages don't take up any data. Demi-gods only use cell phones in emergencies. They make things easier for monsters.

I was surprised when my father responded coolly, "I don't have to explain Annabeth's actions to you, Randolph. Besides, she was using the Wifi, right Annabeth?"

"Yes, Dad." We exchanged a wink to show what he really meant.

"Typical Freddy." Harrumphed Uncle Randolph, "Emasculated by every woman in his life."

I swear to Zeus, Randolph seems to want the rest of the rest of the family to hate him.

"That late night phone call," Sun-Lee said, sort-of (not at all) changing the subject, "It was Percy Jackson, wasn't it?" She said as thought she was asking me if I had called some other member of the family. They say behind every great man there is a great woman. Percy and I are living proof that that saying goes both ways. If it wasn't for me, he'd probably have been killed by monsters a long time ago and if it wasn't for him I'd probably have never patched things up with my family. If you look at Percy's school records alone (he's been kicked out of no less than eight schools, but it's almost exclusively for things that weren't his fault), you'd assume he was the type of bad boyfriend that most parents would freak out over the idea of their daughter dating. If you look at anything else from his relationship with his mother to his much more positive Camp Half-Blood record (though that's not without another very long disciplinary record, Percy is a very complicated person), you'd know that he's more like a combination of the boy you don't want your daughter dating and the boy you want your daughter to marry one day.

"Percy's Annabeth's boyfriend." Piped up twelve-year-old Matthew.

"He's not my boyfriend." I corrected him for the sake of being an older sister, even it wasn't true, "He's just a friend from camp."

"You called someone from your special education camp at a time like this." The way Randolph said "special education camp" made it worse. Who in Tartarus is ashamed about having a kid with ADHD and Dyslexia in the family?

"Percy is practically part of the family, Randolph." Sun-Lee answered, her tone seemed to imply that Percy was more family than Randolph was, "He and Annabeth have known each other since they were twelve. They've been through a lot together."

"The summer before last a counselor they both knew very well committed suicide." My father explained, it was a surprisingly good lie, actually sort of true, "His name was Luke Castellan. He'd been into drugs lately. And this past summer they were separated from a hiking group together."

"Oh and I expect this boy wants to come to the funeral even though he isn't family and he didn't even _know_ Magnus." Well that was probably the last straw for me. Randolph had been barely comforting to us since Magnus' death, he may have been mourning too, even that didn't give him the right to forbid Percy from being Percy.

"That's not fair!" I said, "How much better did Percy know Magnus than you did. I told him all about him last night. He's a good person."I threw my hands in the air, "Did Aunt Natalie want a private family service? Would Magnus have wanted one? Why did not even bother about him until you _knew_ it was too late?"

In response, Randolph got up and left the table.

After dinner, Dad pulled me aside.

"Is everything okay?"

What kind of stupid question was that?

"No, Dad." I said, "Everything is not okay and you know why."

"Yes." He admitted, "Listen Sun-Lee and I are going to have to go back to San Francisco tomorrow after the funeral and take the boys, but I think that you might benefit from staying here to take the train back to New York."

"Okay?" I said.

"I also think." My dad said, "That you should go to the funeral home tonight if you're having doubts about Magnus."

I held my breath, "Which funeral home is it?"

"Twining and Sons."

So I went that night at around six am. I could barely sleep.

I didn't know what I was expecting when I got there.

I definitely wasn't expecting my supposedly dead cousin, Magnus dressed in stonewashed jeans, an old hunting jacket, a chained belt and a _Wiggles_ shirt full of holes.

He was now three feet taller, but still shorter than me. His shaggy blonde hair and gray eyes were the same, but he somehow seemed stronger than the skinny asthmatic boy I played dominoes with.

I tackled him in hug.

"Are you going to make me ask? I thought you were dead, you butt."

Magnus hung his head.

"It's hard to explain."

"I guessed that much. The body is fake? You're trying to convince everyone that you died?"

"Uh…..not exactly. It's best if people think I'm dead, though." He had that look in his face that people get when they are trying to be honest and keep a secret at the same time, "Wait….Did you pass an el-a guy on the way in? My friend was supposed to be keeping watch."

What in Tartarus was wrong with my instincts? "No. Nobody was out there the door was unlocked."

Magnus looked like he wanted to bolt, "Well then maybe I should check….."

"No way." I said, "You're not going anywhere until I get some answers."

Magnus threw his hands up, "Look I'm kind of in a dangerous situation. I don't want you involved."

"Too late." I crossed my arms, "I happen to know quite a bit about dangerous situations."

"Randolph almost got killed on the bridge." Magnus said, "I don't want anything to happen to you."

I laughed without humor, "Randolph-I swear, he wouldn't even tell us why he took you to the bridge. He just kept going on about our family being special and you being in danger because of your birthday. I could shove that cane of his up….."

"He told me about my father."

"Your father?" My heart was pumping loudly, "But you never knew your dad."

"Yeah….but apparently…." Magnus shook his head, "Look it would sound crazy. Just…..there's a connection between my mom's death two years ago, what happened on the bridge, and who my father is?"

"Magnus, oh Gods." I said.

"Oh gods is right." Said a voice, "I swear Magnus Chase I would rip your soul out of your body if I had my full power."

A/N: There was a comment about Annabeth not knowing Magnus was a demigod in the reviews for the last chapter. Yes, she doesn't outright know, but it's kind of those demigod instincts at work. I was torn about what the Nail should be, but I hope you can appreciate I chose Sam. Cat Fight next! BTW: I have three possible ways for why the Gods don't talk to each other (aside from the obvious: 1. WWI 2. The Crusades. Or 3. There was more to WWII than meets the eye. The reason for this is that Rick Riordan loves to work contemporary history into the backstory of his myth books.


	4. I am locked in a duel Annabeth Chase

**Chapter 3: I find myself locked in a duel with my charge's cousin.**

 _ **Sam**_

 **The blonde girl who was with Magnus looked at me with pure and unadulterated contempt, I tried to figure out what the source of her anger was. For a second I believed, as my father would, that it was because of** _ **what**_ **I was. Muslim, child of Loki, permanent outsider, terrorist, Samirah Al-Abbas child of many worlds, yet outsider in all. I fell upon her and we struggled. For a moment I realized that it could have been about my threatening Magnus. But the damage was done. The blonde girl held a knife to my throat.**

" **Are you a monster?"**

" **What?" I was truly angry then. The stupid jokes that come with being a child of Loki have always been in the top ten of things that irritate me. I pushed her hard. It was only then I noticed the knife in her hand. It was celestial bronze. A Greek.**

 **Dear, Odin why, me.**

 **Then there was Magnus' voice, "Stop fighting."**

 **The girl was already on top of me. I pushed her off**

" **Who is SHE?" We both asked it at once. For a moment Magnus looked sheepish.**

 **Then he stated, "Sam, this is Annabeth, she's my cousin. Annabeth, this is Sam, she's my Valkyrie."**

" **Valkyrie?" The girl looked at me, "As in Norse Mythology? How by all the gods is this possible?"**

" **You have a Greek demigod for a cousin?" I immediately wondered if Odin had chosen me as a result of some sick joke.**

" **What?"**

" **Greek, you idiot." I threw my hands up, "A demigod of Olympus. A thief, a bully. A wannabe-conqueror of the world."**

" **That's not true!" Annabeth said, "That's not true, we're not conquerors. We're heroes. And you know something else. In Norse Mythology, Valkyries are supposed to protect heroes. If you're Magnus's Valkyrie why did you threaten to kill him?"**

" **That's what we want to know." The Elf and the Dwarf were standing at the door. Suddenly we were on each other. All four of us. Struggling and pushing on the floor.**

" **Stop!" Magnus hollered, "Stop fighting! We need to talk this over. You know like adults."**

 **Somehow we stopped.**


End file.
